When playing recordable and rewritable DVDs, make sure you have the latest player. That's one conclusion drawn from a September study by Intellikey Laboratories, which contradicts another study it performed for Pioneer Electronics. Both studies cite widespread compatibility problems.

DVD Compatibility

Percentage of sample discs successfully read by test DVD players:

Pioneer-funded study

Intellikey study

DVD-R

78%

77%

DVD+R

78%

90%

DVD-RW

58%

66%

DVD+RW

63%

72%

Not only have the DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW standards failed to merge and produce a hybrid standard, but compatibility problems between different drives, media, and authoring software still give consumers lingering headaches. Lars Keffer, managing director of Intellikey, speculated that Pioneer might have a "vested interest" in releasing its own results. Intellikey's study, released a day before Pioneer's, was funded by an anonymous client, he says.

"From my personal point of view, more comprehensive testing needs to be done," Keffer says. "Across all formats, there are many variables, such as burners, and software, as well as disc types and media types."

A Pioneer spokesperson says that the company wants to emphasize the variables in the tests. "It's our view that consumers should take any study with a grain of salt," she says.

Intellikey's test-bed included 100 players manufactured from 1999 to 2002. In all write-once tests, the players failed to initialize, or read, discs at least 10 percent of the time across all media. Rewritable tests done in both Pioneer's and Intellikey's studies showed that players failed to read discs at least 28 percent of the time. "I would characterize that as a fatal error," Keffer says. Pioneer's discs failed 35 percent of the time, according to the Intellikey study. Pioneer did not disclose the failure rate of its media for its own tests.

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